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The article looks at the gender gap in attitudes toward democracy in the U.S. and Canada. Topics discussed include the role of growing disparities in wealth, economic opportunity and political influence in the increasing number of citizens who question the value of democratic governance, potential reasons behind the skepticism of women over democracy compared with their male counterparts such as access to civic capital and disparate material outcomes, and implication of the tendency of younger women to believe democracy is the best form of government compared with their older peers.

Background: For interventions to reach those they are intended for, an understanding of the factors that influence their participation, as well as the facilitators and barriers of participation are needed. This study explores factors associated with participation in a combination HIV prevention intervention targeting adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) aged 15-24-years-old, as well as the perspectives of AGYW, intervention implementers, and facilitators who participated in this intervention.Methods: This study used mixed-methods approach with quantitative household survey data from 4399 AGYW aged 15-24-years-old in six of the ten districts in which the intervention was implemented. In addition, qualitative methods included a total of 100 semi-structured in-depth interviews and 21 focus group discussions in five of the ten intervention districts with 185 AGYW who participated in one or more of the key components of the intervention, and 13 intervention implementers and 13 facilitators. Thematic analysis was used to explore the perspectives of participating and implementing the intervention.Results: Findings reveal that almost half of AGYW (48.4%) living in the districts where the intervention took place, participated in at least one of the components of the intervention. For both 15-19-year-olds and 20-24-year-olds, factors associated with increased participation in the intervention included being HIV negative, in school, never been pregnant, and having had a boyfriend. Experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV) and/or sexual violence in the past 12 months was associated with increased levels of participation in the intervention for 20-24-year-olds only. In our analysis of the qualitative data, facilitators to participation included motivating participants to join the interventions through explaining the benefits of the programme. Barriers included misguided expectations about financial rewards or job opportunities; competing responsibilities, interests or activities; family responsibilities including childcare; inappropriate incentives; inability to disrupt the school curriculum and difficulties with conducting interventions after school hours due to safety concerns; miscommunication about meetings; as well as struggles to reach out-of-school AGYW.Conclusion: Designers of combination HIV prevention interventions need to address the barriers to participation so that AGYW can attend without risking their safety and compromising their family, childcare and schooling responsibilities. Strategies to create demand need to include clear communication about the nature and potential benefits of such interventions, and the inclusion of valued incentives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Marriage patterns of the second-generation are gaining greater attention in the US and Europe. The majority of studies so far have concentrated on partner choices and transnational marriages. An interesting case in point concerns Turkish second-generation women in France who marry at a significantly younger age than all their male and female counterparts, a decision often justified along the lines of family taking priority. This article focuses on the marriage decisions of young French women of Turkish origin in Strasbourg, while scrutinizing their experiences in education and at work. Using biographical interviews, I examine the perspectives of young women who do (or do not) have early matrimony in their trajectories. Detailed analysis of the school and work trajectories of these young women shows how marriage can function as an alternative transition pathway into adulthood, providing an understanding of marriage decision that goes beyond cultural essentialist explanations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Smoking cigarettes is a leading global cause of preventable death and disease. Men historically smoke more than women, but the prevalence of smoking among women in low and middle-income countries is increasing at an alarming rate. Understanding the factors that influence smoking initiation among women and girls is needed to address the growing epidemic of women smokers and the looming impact on women's health worldwide. We assume that smoking initiation is embedded in socio-culturally influenced gendered context and use a social cognitive model with a gendered lens as a framework for organizing and synthesizing the research. Guided by this framework, we identified gaps in the literature and make recommendations for future research in this review paper. The results suggest that psychological and environmental determinants are rooted in fluctuating cultural influences and values, but few research studies provide a gendered analysis or systematically examine these factors in the context of gender and culture. Sex/gender is a significant construct through which women and girls experience the psychological, environmental, and other influences on smoking initiation. Much more research is needed to understand the psychological and environmental influences as well as the intersection of gender roles and other social categories on female smoking initiation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated whether body surveillance would positively predict young Chinese women's social anxiety and its potential mechanisms. A total of 218 young Chinese women (Mage = 21 years-old, range = 16–28) participated. The results showed that body surveillance positively predicted women's appearance-based rejection sensitivity through body shame and need to belong, which in turn predicted social anxiety. These results suggest that, in addition to intrapersonal consequences, body surveillance may also influence women's interpersonal well-being. Our research contributes to a better understanding of the influences of self-objectification by incorporating interpersonal distress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on Merleau-Ponty and Bourdieu, this article explores corporeal ways to modify the somewhat anxiety-filled bodily habit(us) of many young women. The article is based on accounts of body experience written by Finnish women's studies students. In the article, I demonstrate how experiences of overcoming the mind/body dichotomy and connecting the body with the surrounding world disrupted the young women's habitual experience of an alienated body. I argue that a corporeal agency that arises within physical actions and situations can modify a troublesome habit(us) and enable a young woman to transform her habitual self-body-world relation. Moreover, I discuss how physical activity can facilitate empowering body experiences [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores Japanese women's engagements with the British heritage industry in the 2000s by reading two recent Japanese texts concerned with commodified British heritage, especially heritage from the Victorian period. Reading these Japanese 'heritage texts' reveals that a perceived lack of aristocratic cultural capital, which has grown out of Japan's encounter with informal British imperialism in the nineteenth century, continues to shape young Japanese women's avid participation in the British heritage industry. In the second half of the nineteenth century, British merchants brought material goods and the cultural practices associated with these goods to Japan through trade. On the other hand, Japanese officials and students travelled to Britain to learn from British civilisation at its source. This history has given rise to a longstanding Japanese 'aspiration' (akogare) to emulate Britain. The Japanese manga and magazine publishing industry in the 2000s reaffirms these sentiments but also exploits them to its own advantage, by channelling young Japanese women's perception of their cultural belatedness into the buying of both British heritage commodities and the Japanese 'heritage texts' that promote these commodities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding young women's contraceptive and pregnancy prevention behaviors is important for helping women and their partners control if and when they have children. Prior research on associations between patterns of sexual activity and contraceptive behaviors is limited. We assessed the influence of recent sexual activity on discontinuation and selection of specific contraceptive methods. We used weekly data from the Relationship Dynamics and Social Life (RDSL) study, a longitudinal 2.5-year population-based project that sampled woman ages 18 and 19 (N = 1,003) in one Michigan county. We estimated logistic and multinomial regression models that accounted for clustering of weekly observations within partnerships and women. Weekly discontinuation of longer-acting methods declined with increasing sexual activity in the past month, as did discontinuation of shorter-acting hormonal methods. Sexual activity was associated with decreased selection of condoms relative to other methods. Future research into life events that lead to changes in the frequency of sexual activity may provide insight into times when women are at risk of contraceptive discontinuation. These findings underscore the importance of anticipatory guidance in contraceptive counseling so that when women change their contraceptive behavior they are equipped in advance with resources to make safe transitions between methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sexual behavior is associated with increased positive affect and decreased negative affect. However, contextual variables such as partner type, behavior type, and condom use may moderate these associations. The goal of the present research was to examine these contextual moderators using monthly longitudinal data from a sample of young women. Female first-year college students (N = 477) completed monthly assessments of their sexual behaviors and positive and negative affect. Participants reported more negative affect in months in which they engaged in sexual behavior compared to months in which they did not. This association was moderated by partner type, such that only sexual behavior with casual partners was associated with increased negative affect. Participants reported more positive affect during months with kissing/touching only compared to months without sexual behavior; however, this association did not differ significantly from the association between oral/vaginal sex and positive affect. Condom use did not moderate the association between vaginal sex and positive or negative affect. In this sample of young women transitioning to college, engaging in sexual behavior was generally associated with negative affect; however, changes in affect depended on partner type and sexual behaviors. Findings have implications for sexual health education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article utilises emotions theory to explore the actions and behaviour of the young female accusers in the Salem witchcraft trials. It argues common historical interpretation of this behaviour has largely ignored the cultural context of witchcraft belief among young women, as well how agency and emotion functioned in the courtroom setting. By comparing the physical and emotional reactions of the young Salem accusers with other cases of young female bewitchment across England and New England, I argue this behaviour was a cultural response to witchcraft which imbued young female accusers with unprecedented cultural power and agency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The objective of this study was to classify young women into groups based on their childbearing worldviews—patterns of attitudes about domains related to childbearing—and to test whether these groups predict contraceptive behavior. Background: Contraceptive behavior—defined here as contraceptive use or abstinence—among young women in the United States illustrates the often puzzling relationship between attitudes and behavior. This study argues that considering sets of attitudes relevant to childbearing in relation to each other can explain apparent contradictions between attitudes and contraceptive behavior. Method: Using data from the Relationship Dynamics and Social Life study of young women (N = 832), this study analyzes the relationships among attitudes about childbearing by using latent class analysis to partition survey respondents into meaningful groups, and then multinomial logistic regression analysis to examine the relationship between group membership and contraceptive behavior. Latent class analysis identifies classes that share similar relationships between responses across a series of variables to measure childbearing worldviews. Results: Latent class analysis identifies six classes of young women that share childbearing worldviews, four of which were predicted by the existing literature. Membership in those classes is then shown to predict contraceptive behavior, an important behavioral outcome. Conclusion: The concept of worldviews and the method for identifying them will allow family researchers to identify meaningful groups in a population as well as to generate theories about childbearing and contraceptive behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The incidence of self-harming behaviors among young women seems to be on the rise. Medical professionals suggest that 1.5% of all Americans have or currently are self-harming and as many as 25% of young women have harmed themselves in the past year. At the same time, the Christian tradition has named as saints many women and men who have used self-harm as a spiritual discipline. This raises the theological and pastoral question of how we minister to young women who do self-injure, many of whom are members of our Catholic college campus communities [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social media can become a site of public pedagogy (Rich, E., & Miah, A. (2014). Understanding digital health as public pedagogy: A critical framework. Societies, 4(2), 296–315. doi:) through which young people learn about health and fitness. Photo and video-sharing social networks are emerging as sites of media practices through which images of the perfect fit body circulate, popularly known as 'fitspiration' media. Our research examines how girls and young women negotiate contemporary discourses around body, health and fitness circulating through Instagram and the subjectivities such technology enables. We draw on participatory and collaborative research with young women from three Spanish Secondary schools who each engaged with exercise-related content on Instagram and who self-defined as physically active. Focus groups and semi-structured interviews explored participants' uses, meanings and influences of this digital content over their embodiment and subjectivities. Through the concept of 'postfeminist biopedagogy', we articulate the learning processes that girls experience as they engage with media about 'fit' female bodies on Instagram. This involves a series of pedagogical micro practices through which girls learn about the health and fitness subject and which bring together a postfeminist sensibility (Gill, R. (2007). Postfeminist media culture: Elements of a sensibility. European Journal of Cultural Studies, 10(2), 147–166. doi:), neoliberal notions of the self and discourses of health consumption. A postfeminist biopedagogy (Wright, J. (2009). Biopower, biopedagogies and the obesity epidemic. In J. Wright, & V. Harwood (Eds.), Biopolitics and the 'obesity epidemic': Governing bodies (pp. 1–14). New York, NY: Routledge) instructs and regulates girls' bodies and health subjectivities through a language of choice, empowerment and health although, at the same time, framing exercise as disciplined work to achieve the normative body. Although participants criticized such representation of the perfect body, they considered these normative pressures as necessary to 'successful' identities in postfeminist times. Our analysis reveals how some young women learn about exercise as 'aesthetic labour' through the biopedagogies circulating on Instagram, with continual work upon the body associated with performing subjectivities which are confident, happy and powerful. We conclude by exploring the implications of our findings for Physical and Health Education and young women's wellbeing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Music is an important part of the human experience, arguably contributing to identity and the formation of relationships and group memberships. However, the way women are portrayed in music has been identified as harmful and disempowering. Past research relating music to these trends has often failed to "give voice" to participants by asking them what think about the music they listen to, which is in itself disempowering. Therefore, the aim of this study was to gain an understanding of young women's perspectives of popular music. Face-to-face, in-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 young women. Causal layered analysis was used to deconstruct participants' understandings of popular music. Findings revealed that for participants, music can both reflect and contribute to conflicting worldviews regarding women's freedom of expression and sexual conservatism. Music also acted as a conduit for discussion of the social construction of women; participants articulated that female artists are seen rather than heard, reduced to body parts and commodified. Findings indicate that participants are cognizant of gendered power differences in music, rendering popular music in particular a mechanism for the oppression of women, but also a useful means to monitor and challenge problematic cultural attitudes directed at women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the popular YouTube genre of room tours. In these short, amateurish or semi-professional videos, predominantly female teenagers put their bedrooms on show, painstakingly commenting on furniture and decoration. While room tours as such have not yet been a subject of academic study, contemporary scholars investigate similar digital practices under two main perspectives. One is concerned with their emancipatory potential for girls and young women; the other one draws attention to the risks of self-exposure in cyberspace. The present article focuses, on the contrary, on the roots of the room tour genre in cultural history and demonstrates its generic similarities with the nineteenth-century practices of ‛making of the parlour' as a highly specific space in which private and public spheres interacted and the symbolic capital of the family was both created and put on show. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerous studies have found that although young adults are arguably less constrained by gendered norms and expectations than previous generations, they have nevertheless continued to imagine their biographical futures in highly gendered ways. In this paper I draw on an analysis of 28 in-depth interviews in which 16 women and 12 men (aged 18-34) were asked to discuss their expectations for both the biographical and social future. The results of this study largely confirm the findings of previous scholarship, with young women often viewing childbearing and caring responsibilities as compulsory, while young men largely viewed these commitments as complementary to their chosen careers. This paper extends existing findings in this area by examining, firstly, whether these perceptions of the biographical future are mirrored in the participants’ views of the long-term, social future, and secondly, what implications such views may have when they are extended into this register. In so doing it ultimately finds that the gender norms that shape young adults’ expectations for their own futures are echoed in their outlooks upon the social future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores how young female Muslim university students in London and Birmingham experience life in England. Through focus groups and interviews, talk about three main topics was collected: how young Muslims frame their identities; how they are perceived by others; and how they perceive Muslims to be portrayed and represented in public life. Analysis shows that the participants: presented themselves as ambitious and autonomous; experienced direct and indirect exclusion as young Muslims; perceived a lack of diverse Muslims role models and ambassadors in public life; and that, despite their optimism, felt their futures in Britain were uncertain. The young people recognised the temporary liberties they have around dress and practice as university students that are potentially restricted in wider society. The research highlights the problems created by stigmatising public discourse around Islamist extremism that fuels narrow, deficit-focused policy that exacerbates the exclusion of young Muslims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Infant faces have distinctive features that together are described as baby schema, a configuration that facilitates caregiving motivation and behavior, and increases the perception of cuteness. In the current functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, we investigated the effect of a within-subjects intranasal oxytocin administration (24 IU) and caregiving motivation on neural responses to infant faces of varying baby schema in 23 healthy nulliparous women. Overall, infant faces elicited activation in several brain regions involved in reward and salience processing, including the ventral tegmental area (VTA), putamen, amygdala, anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and insula, and this activation was related to self-reported caregiving motivation. Critically, whereas we hypothesized enhanced neural caregiving-related responses after oxytocin administration, we observed reduced activation in the VTA, putamen and amygdala after oxytocin compared to placebo. In nulliparous women, oxytocin has been shown to reduce neural responses in the same regions in response to social stimuli using other paradigms. Oxytocin might affect neural activation toward social stimuli depending on elicited arousal and personal characteristics. The current study is the first to demonstrate this effect in response to infant faces and thereby adds to specify the role of oxytocin in human social information processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Cook Islands is one of several countries in the Pacific region that has high rates of teenage pregnancy and birth. While the social determinants of pregnancy and early motherhood are well established in the global context, little is known about how Cook Islands young women who become pregnant before age 20 make sense of their experiences. Drawing on individual interviews with a purposive sample of 10 young mothers, this paper examines the phenomenology of early pregnancy from their perspectives. Structural, cultural and individual factors emerged as salient themes in participants' accounts. Qualitative analysis revealed that nearly all the pregnancies were unplanned and every participant reacted negatively when she learned she was pregnant. While some participants wanted to terminate their pregnancies, lack of access to safe, legal and affordable abortion care limited their options. Ultimately, while nearly all participants wished they had been able to delay motherhood, they expressed happiness and pride about their new-found status as mothers. These findings allow for a fuller understanding of factors shaping young women's experiences of pregnancy in the Cook Islands, which have policy implications for reproductive health and rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the USA, partner non-monogamy is reported to be more common among African American women than White women and may contribute to African American women's increased risk for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Few studies have explicitly and comprehensively described the protective behaviours that African American women employ with non-monogamous partners to reduce their HIV risk. We conducted interviews to examine protective behaviours among 11 African American women aged 18-24 years who perceived that a partner in the preceding 12 months had another sex partner. Participants described three types of partnerships with 29 non-monogamous men; these partnerships clustered into three categories. Narrative analysis revealed an overall paucity of protective behaviours with non-monogamous partners. Protective behaviours (i.e. communication and condom use) were informed by partnership type, rather than perceptions of non-monogamy. There were few instances in which partner non-monogamy motivated women to terminate sex partnerships. Rather, these decisions were often motivated by changes in other relationship dynamics. To address HIV/STI risk related to partner non-monogamy, HIV prevention strategies for young African American women should emphasise the importance of condom use in all non-marital partnership types. Interventions where testing is available may be effective for women who frequently test for HIV/STIs but do not use condoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates Italian adolescents’ attitudes toward gay men and lesbians and same-sex marriage, and their beliefs about the origins of homosexuality. The sample consists of 449 subjects (226 males), aged between 14 and 21 years. The principal instruments used are: the Attitudes Toward Lesbians and Gay men (ATLG), the Modern Homonegativity Scale (MHS), and the Attitudes Toward Same-Sex Marriage (ATSM). Results suggest that males show a more negative attitude than females toward homosexuals. Furthermore data reveal that respondents with a lack of personal direct contact with gay people have less positive attitudes toward homosexual people and same-sex marriage. The data in this study suggest that homophobia could be deeply rooted in a traditional value system that refutes gender equality. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Women are surrounded by sexualized imagery as well as cultural narratives that dictate their sexual behavior. These diverse cultural narratives include: women are sexually passive, women should desire sex and be sexually empowered, and women are expected to navigate ambivalent societal messages regarding their sexuality. In our study, we explored how college-aged young women describe and understand their first exposure to a sexual image. This mixed methods study, guided by critical feminism, addresses how young women, reflecting on their experiences since girlhood, have navigated changing cultural standards for female sexuality in light of complex negotiations among varying expectations. We examined 445 young women's written reflections on seeing a sexual image for the first time. Most of the women reported that this experience occurred when they were in elementary school, and at home with friends, family, or alone. We found four themes of reactions to seeing the image for the first time: unwanted, intrigued, ambivalent, and neutral. Implications for comprehensive sex education include the need for teachers, parents, and other trusted adults to provide accurate and age-appropriate knowledge and opportunities for discussion about sexuality. Limitations and future directions are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is literature detailing the effects of travel motivation, risks perceptions, and travel constraints on the destination image and travel behaviour of individuals. However, literature explaining these factors in the context of prospective young women travellers is scarce. This study empirically tests a comprehensive model of prospective young women’s travel behaviour, based on cognitive and affective perceptions about destination, travel motivations, perceived risks, and travel constraints. A quantitative study was performed on 370 young university women in Malaysia. The results revealed that the travel motivation of young women has positive effects on the cognitive and affective image, whereas the dimensions of perceived travel risks and travel constraints have negative effects on cognitive and affective destination images. The results also found that cognitive and affective images positively influence the visit intention of prospective young women travellers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most young people in the United States express the desire to marry. Norms at all socioeconomic levels posit marriage as the optimal context for childbearing. At the same time, nonmarital fertility accounts for approximately 40 % of U.S. births, experienced disproportionately by women with educational attainment less than a bachelor's degree. Research has shown that women's intentions for the number and timing of children and couples' intent to marry are strong predictors of realized fertility and marriage. The present study investigates whether U.S. young women's preferences about nonmarital fertility, as stated before childbearing begins, predict their likelihood of having a nonmarital first birth. I track marriage and fertility histories through ages 24-30 of women asked at ages 11-16 whether they would consider unmarried childbearing. One-quarter of women who responded "no" in fact had a nonmarital birth by age 24-30. The ability of women and their partners to access material resources in adulthood were, as expected, the strongest predictors of the likelihood of nonmarital childbearing. Nonetheless, I find that women who said they would not consider nonmarital childbearing had substantially higher hazards of fertility postponement and especially of marital fertility, even after controlling for race/ethnicity, mother's educational attainment, family of origin intactness, self-efficacy and planning ability, perceived future prospects, and markers of own educational attainment and work experience into early adulthood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study examined gender differences in young people's attitudes toward cosmetic surgery as well as the joint effects of media and peers on their attitudes toward cosmetic surgery. A survey of 555 university students in Singapore showed that young people of both sexes generally held positive attitudes toward cosmetic surgery. We observed no significant gender disparities in their acceptance of cosmetic surgery or intention to undergo cosmetic surgery. We tested the influence of the presumed media influence model, and our findings supported direct and indirect models of media influence on young people's attitudes toward cosmetic surgery. The indirect model was mediated by perceived influence of cosmetic surgery-related media on peers. We also found that men were more susceptible to the influence of presumed media influence than women were. Practice implications of our study for educators include open discussions regarding cosmetic surgery and the influence of media and peers among young people, as well as differentiating intervention programs for emerging adult women and men. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whether in China or outside of it, xiqu (Chinese opera) observers and practitioners often make the claim that xiqu audiences are elderly and vanishing, and that there is no substantial national market for xiqu productions in present-day China. For these reasons, both innovation and reform are thought to be required to rejuvenate audiences. Based on audience questionnaires from a 2013 national tour of the Fujian Province Liyuan Experimental Theatre (FPLET), the data provided in this essay suggest that a considerable national xiqu audience market exists in major cities, and it is composed largely of young women. Furthermore, it finds that there is no correlation between age and desire for stage reform, and that audiences generally exhibit actor-centered viewing habits. Based on these findings, the authors suggest that the influential conjectures that innovation attracts youthful audiences do not, in this case, hold. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The New Woman in the work of Mascha Kaléko, Hannah Höch, and Irmgard Keun appears both as the satirist attacking the misogyny of a superseded patriarchy and as the butt of satire as a puppet of modern market forces; in Thea von Harbou's Metropolis she comes in two versions as harbinger of chaos or motherly saviour of the people. Kaléko's poem, Höch's photomontages and Harbou's novel all exhibit a characteristic shift in Weimar satire from an animalistic to a mechanistic mode of dehumanization. Read in sequence, Keun's three novels of the 1930s convey how the growing political threat of National Socialism came to overshadow the social and economic struggles of young women looking for new freedoms. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article contributes to debates about the value and utility of the notion of postfeminism for a seemingly “new” moment marked by a resurgence of interest in feminism in the media and among young women. The paper reviews current understandings of postfeminism and criticisms of the term’s failure to speak to or connect with contemporary feminism. It offers a defence of the continued importance of a critical notion of postfeminism, used as an analytical category to capture a distinctive contradictory-but-patterned sensibility intimately connected to neoliberalism. The paper raises questions about the meaning of the apparent new visibility of feminism and highlights the multiplicity of different feminisms currently circulating in mainstream media culture—which exist in tension with each other. I argue for the importance of being able to “think together” the rise of popular feminism alongside and in tandem with intensified misogyny. I further show how a postfeminist sensibility informs even those media productions that ostensibly celebrate the new feminism. Ultimately, the paper argues that claims that we have moved “beyond” postfeminism are (sadly) premature, and the notion still has much to offer feminist cultural critics. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Introduction: This study aimed to describe the knowledge, attitudes and practices of young women regarding human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination.Methods: We conducted a descriptive, cross-sectional, questionnaire-based study among female students at a tertiary institute in Singapore.Results: A total of 255 questionnaires were completed and formed the basis of the analysis. 244 (95.7%) of the total participants were of the age group 15-22 years. 252 (98.8%) participants were unmarried and 240 (94.1%) had never had sexual intercourse. Only 25 (9.8%) women had received vaccination. Among the unvaccinated participants, 96 (41.7%) had no intention to receive HPV vaccination and 62 of them cited lack of information as a major barrier to HPV vaccination. Knowledge of cervical cancer and HPV vaccination was also assessed and graded via a point system, with a maximum score of 14. Knowledge was found to be low, with a median score of 7. There was a significant association between HPV vaccination uptake and the source from which they first heard about the vaccine (p = 0.007). Vaccinated respondents tended to first hear about it from their relatives and friends, as compared to unvaccinated respondents (60.0% vs. 27.0%).Conclusion: There is poor uptake of HPV vaccination amongst Singapore's susceptible youth as well as poor knowledge of cervical cancer and HPV vaccination. Public health education regarding cervical cancer and HPV vaccination is still needed and has to be targeted at not only respondents, but also their family and friends. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This ethnographic study conducted among young women aged 18–21 years in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand, explored the parental control mechanisms imposed by Thai middle-class families on the sexuality of their daughters. It addressed the ways in which young women tactically use the social media in order to negotiate the sexual controls they encountered in everyday life. Taking the teenage girls’ point of view, this paper argues that, as active agents, young women achieve a certain level of sexual autonomy and construct their own sexual selves in modern northern Thai society, despite their parents’ attempts to prevent this. The paper highlights the ways in which social media are used by Thai girls in order to achieve such a goal. Research findings should inform the development of future programmes on sexual health promotion, parental skills and sexual communication between Thai parents and their children. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, we present an analysis of ‘pleasure’ in sex and relationships education (SRE) in England. Drawing together two distinct sources of data and different but complementary analytical frameworks, we argue that pleasure is largely absent within SRE and that this discursive silence serves to produce highly gendered and heteronormative understandings of sexual agency, autonomy and empowerment. A critical linguistic analysis of the current Department for Education (DfE) SRE guidance for England reveals that sex is positioned as a ‘risky’ and dangerous activity, which is clearly linked to child protection; sex is not discussed as pleasurable. Focus group discussions conducted with young women in the North East of England highlight the ways in which gendered discourses about pleasure construct expectations for ‘appropriate’ sexual identities and behaviours. These may be linked to negative experiences such as sexual harassment and bullying and compromised sexual subjectivity. We suggest that existing DfE SRE guidance in England be re-examined with particular reference to addressing gender equality, including in relation to access to a discourse of sexual pleasure and rights. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Introduction and hypothesis: This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of stress urinary incontinence (SUI) and to introduce a new community-based reproductive health intervention. We then evaluated the effectiveness of this intervention. Methods: In this cluster-randomized trial, 2100 participants aged 18-40 years were divided randomly into an intervention group (IG, 1400 women) and a control group (CG, 700 women). The CG received traditional community intervention, cmprising limited reproductive information and education; the IG received the new community-based reproductive health intervention model, comprising self-designed handbooks, health lectures, and free medical consultations, in addition to the traditional community intervention. All participants were surveyed face to face using a self-designed questionnaire before and after the 6-month intervention. Results: In Shanghai, the prevalence rate of SUI was 14.3 %. No difference was observed between groups regarding mean knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAPs) about SUI and the total score at baseline ( P > 0.05). The IG scored significantly higher than the CG on the KAP questions at follow-up, and a significant improvement was observed in the IG after the intervention. Total scores increased with age, educational level, income, and time spent working in Shanghai per year but decreased with gravidity and the number of abortions. Native respondents scored higher than did migrants. Conclusions: The prevalence of SUI is high in Shanghai, and the new community-based reproductive health intervention model is both effective and easily implemented. This intervention should focus on women with a low income, women with low education levels, young women, migrant women, and women who have had multiple abortions or pregnancies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main aim of the paper is to present the results of research concerning psychological and socio-cultural risk factors for development of negative anti-health (that is too restrictive and compensatory) attitude toward one's body in young Polish women. The study comprised 120 women, of 20 to 25 years of age, with similar socio-demographic status (marital status, living and having been brought up in multi-generation families) who so far in the course of their lives have not disclosed mental or somatic disturbances (having accompanying manifestations of body image distortion). The theoretical theses for the research model were the contemporary cognitive concepts (multifactor models of body image dissatisfaction), as well as socio-cultural concepts. The following have been used in the study: thematic drawings (body images), the Contour Drawing Rating Scale (CDRS) developed by - developed by Thompson & Gray, the Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI) created by D. Garner (Polish version developed by C. Żechowski), The Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Questionnaire 3 (SATAQ 3), and questionnaire for behaviour towards the body (KZWC - Kwestionariusz Zachowań Wobec Ciała) (author's own tool). The results confirmed the existence of negative attitude toward one's own body, as well as development of inclinations for compensation-generating behaviour (application of various cleansing means and methods to change body weight and body image, which are disadvantageous for health). A group of risk factors has been identified, which may lead to the development of the above attitudes and behaviours toward one's body in healthy women, who at the same time do not accept the image of their real bodies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Study Objective Long acting reversible contraceptives, including etonogestrel implants, are top tier contraceptives for adolescents, yet they remained underutilized. This study aimed to assess awareness of and attitudes toward etonogestrel implants among adolescent and young adult women. Design, Main Outcome Measures This is a cross sectional study. We distributed an original, self-administered survey to a convenience sample of anonymous subjects. The survey assessed demographic information, pregnancy and sexual history, general contraceptive preferences, and awareness of implants. Subjects then read a brief description of implants before completing the section assessing attitudes toward them. We used chi-square and t- test analyses to identify factors associated with awareness of and positive attitudes toward implants. Setting, Participants Women aged 10-24 attending a birth control education group at an adolescent health center in New York City. Results Of the 129 participants, only 40% had heard of etonogestrel implants. Some (33%) reported positive attitudes toward implants. Positive attitudes were associated with preferences for birth control convenience (OR = 3.3, 95% CI = 1.1- 9.5) and privacy (OR = 2.2, 95% CI = 1.0- 4.8). Neutral or negative attitudes were associated with a preference for birth control that maintained menstrual regularity (OR = 0.4, 95% CI = 0.2- 0.8) and with having experienced at least 1 unintended pregnancy (OR = 0.4, 95% CI = 0.2- 0.9). Age, race, and education were not associated with participants' attitudes toward implants. Conclusions Women who value convenience and privacy are more likely to report positive attitudes toward implants, and thus may represent especially receptive candidates for them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we use newly available data from the Relationship Dynamics and Social Life (RDSL) study to compare a wide range of attitudes related to pregnancy for 961 black and white young women. We also investigate the extent to which race differences are mediated by, or net of, family background, childhood socioeconomic status (SES), adolescent experiences related to pregnancy, and current SES. Compared with white women, black women generally have less positive attitudes toward young nonmarital sex, contraception, and childbearing, and have less desire for sex in the upcoming year. This is largely because black women are more religious than white women and partly because they are more socioeconomically disadvantaged in young adulthood. However, in spite of these less positive attitudes, black women are more likely to expect sex without contraception in the next year and to expect more positive consequences if they were to become pregnant, relative to white women. This is largely because, relative to white women, black women had higher rates of sex without contraception in adolescence and partly because they are more likely to have grown up with a single parent. It is unclear whether attitudes toward contraception and pregnancy preceded or are a consequence of adolescent sex without contraception. Some race differences remain unexplained; net of all potential mediators in our models, black women have less desire for sex in the upcoming year, but they are less willing to refuse to have sex with a partner if they think it would make him angry and they expect more positive personal consequences of a pregnancy, relative to white women. In spite of these differences, black women's desires to achieve and to prevent pregnancy are very similar to white women's desires. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study examined the association between pregnancy intention among young Filipino women and prenatal, delivery and postnatal outcomes. Data were drawn from the 2013 Young Adult Fertility and Sexuality Study, a nationally representative survey of 19,178 Filipino youth aged between 15 and 24. The analytic sample consists of 2,264 live births in the two years prior to the survey. The survey shows that 38.7 per cent of births were unintended at the time of conception: 23.1 per cent were mistimed while 15.6 per cent were unwanted. Proportionately, more unintended births were borne by mothers who were teenagers, unmarried, college-educated, urban and Metro Manila residents than their counterparts. There were also more unintended births among first-order births than among subsequent births. Logistic regression results show that compared with mothers of intended births, mothers of mistimed and unwanted births were more likely to have attempted to abort their pregnancy. Mothers of mistimed births are also less likely to have begun prenatal care within the first trimester of pregnancy than mothers of intended births. The findings suggest that unintended pregnancy is an important consideration in interventions aimed at improving maternal and child health but further studies are needed to fully explore the dynamics between unintended pregnancy and maternal health outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background : Unintended pregnancy is a major public health problem in the United States. Correct contraceptive use can reduce the rate of unintended pregnancy. Community pharmacies are well positioned to provide contraceptives and advice about contraception. Objectives: To determine young women's perceptions and experiences with contraception supply in community pharmacies and to identify whether pharmacy characteristics predicted very positive experiences. Design: This study comprised two cross-sectional surveys including an online women's pharmacy perceptions and experiences (PPE) survey and a faxed/observed survey of community pharmacies. Setting: One county in Michigan Participants: Young women and community pharmacies Main outcome measure: The two surveys were merged to explore pharmacy characteristics that may impact women's perceptions and experiences with community pharmacies. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to explore relationships between pharmacy characteristics and positive outcomes. Results: The response rate for the PPE survey was 54% (n = 343/637). Data from all community pharmacies in the county was retrieved via fax (n = 41/94, 43.6%) or observation (n = 53/94, 56.4%). Women were included in this analysis if they indicated a regular pharmacy (one they go to most often) in the county of interest (n = 210). More than 50% of women (n = 125/210) visited a pharmacy more than once per month. Sixty percent of women were currently using something to prevent pregnancy (n = 124/210,60.8%). Thirty- five percent of women had a positive experience (n = 73/210, 34.8%). In the multiple logistic regression, women who visited a chain pharmacy had almost 65% lower odds of an overall positive experience with their regular pharmacy compared with women who visited a grocery or mass merchandise pharmacy (odds ratio 0.35 [95% Cl 0.16], P = 0.75). Conclusion: Young women visit community pharmacies and use contraceptives frequently. Interventions need to be developed and implemented to improve young women's perceptions and experiences with contraception at community pharmacies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent research suggests that heterosexual and sexual minority women are more similar to each other in relationship development than they are to men who identify a similar sexual orientation (Diamond, L.M., 2008.Sexual fluidity: understanding women's love and desire. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; Glover, J.A., Galliher, R.V., and Lamere, T.G., 2009. Identity development and exploration among sexual minority adolescents: examination of a multidimensional model.Journal of homosexuality, 56, 77–101). The current study adds to this literature by examining past and current passionate friendship experiences of a small sample of heterosexual and sexual minority young adult women through qualitative interviews. Passionate friendships represent a unique relationship category that blurs the lines between friendship and romantic relationship. Five content themes emerged regarding the formation, features, and function of passionate friendships. Implications for future research based on preliminary findings of similarities and differences within this small sample of heterosexual and sexual minority women's passionate friendships are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper reported three young women who collapsed into sudden abnormal behavior and convulsions and fell into unconsciousness. After admission, they were found to suffer from ovarian teratomas with anti-NMDAR antibody positive in cerebrospinal fluid or serum. The patients were diagnosed as anti-NMDAR encephalitis associated with ovarian teratoma, and teratoma resection was performed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study is to compare the attitude of adolescent and young adult females toward women empowerment residing in the urban area of Delhi NCR region. For this purpose the Adolescent Girls Empowerment Scale by Sisodia and Singh, 2009 was used to compare the attitudes of the two groups. Random sampling was used to select the sample of 100 participants each in the adolescent and young adult females group. The scale was administered individually to each participant. The study hypothesized that there will be a significant difference on the attitude of adolescent and young adult females toward women empowerment. Means, standard deviations and Student's 't' test were computed for analyzing the results. The results indicated that there was no difference in the two groups in all the seven sub-areas of the scale as well as for the total score on women empowerment. The results are discussed in light of existing research and limitations and scope for future improvements are suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Centerfold images (i.e., still-shot depictions of lone, provocatively posed, scantily clad women) are one of the most enduring, pervasive, and popular forms of sexual media. This study measured young women's attitude toward the male gaze following exposure to centerfolds of varying explicitness. Explicitness was operationalized as degree of undress. Women exposed to more explicit centerfolds expressed greater acceptance of the male gaze than women exposed to less explicit centerfolds immediately after exposure and at a 48 hour follow-up. These results support the view that the more media depictions of women display women's bodies, the stronger the message they send that women are sights to be observed by others. They also suggest that even brief exposure to explicit centerfolds can have a nontransitory effect on women's sociosexual attitudes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Feminist identity development theories, advanced by Bartky (1975), Downing and Roush (1985), and others, have been operationalized and studied extensively for the last two decades. In this transnational qualitative study, the authors revisit the process by which young women come to and embrace the mantle of feminism, in order to reveal its contemporary contours. Thirty-four women, current and former university students from the United Kingdom and United States were interviewed, and their narratives analyzed, revealing several common features of their journeys to feminism: That feminism is considered common sense by participants, a realization they come to gradually. University experiences figure prominently in their identity development, locating sources of support to cope with peer diminishment of feminism. Their identities are solidified through a complex interplay of debate, deliberation, and community-building with other feminists. These newly emerging signposts of "feminist becoming" invite further research and possible revision of existing theories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The phenomenon of women enjoying sexualized male attention has recently been operationalized and found to be related to primarily traditional and sexist beliefs, but some argue that enjoying sexiness can be a feminist act. This study assessed the extent to which 326 self-identified heterosexual feminist women reported that they enjoyed sexualization and how this related to beliefs about the need for social change. Results indicated that enjoying sexualization was related to a mix of feminist and traditional beliefs. Paradoxically, feminists who enjoyed sexualization felt empowered but were less likely to notice personal social injustice or continued gender inequity. Whether embracing empowered sexuality is related to a more general gender empowerment is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Background: We prospectively examined the influence of young women’s depression and stress symptoms on their weekly consistency of contraceptive method use. Study Design: Women ages 18-20 years (n=689) participating in a longitudinal cohort study completed weekly journals assessing reproductive, relationship and health characteristics. We used data through 12 months of follow-up (n=8877 journals) to examine relationships between baseline depression (CES-D) and stress (PSS-10) symptoms and consistency of contraceptive methods use with sexual activity each week. We analyzed data with random effects multivarible logistic regression. Results: Consistent contraceptive use (72% of weeks) was 10–15 percentage points lower among women with moderate/severe baseline depression and stress symptoms than those without symptoms (p<.001). Controlling for covariates, women with depression and stress symptoms had 47% and 69% reduced odds of contraceptive consistency each week than those without symptoms, respectively (OR 0.53, CI 0.31–0.91 and OR 0.31, CI 0.18–0.52). Stress predicted inconsistent use of oral contraceptives (OR 0.27, CI 0.12–0.58), condoms (OR 0.40, CI 0.23–0.69) and withdrawal (OR 0.12, CI 0.03–0.50). Conclusion: Women with depression and stress symptoms appear to be at increased risk for user-related contraceptive failures, especially for the most commonly used methods. Implications: Our study has shown that young women with elevated depression and stress symptoms appear to be at risk for inconsistent contraceptive use patterns, especially for the most common methods that require greater user effort and diligence. Based upon these findings, clinicians should consider women’s psychological and emotional status when helping patients with contraceptive decision-making and management. User-dependent contraceptive method efficacy is important to address in education and counseling sessions, and women with stress or depression may be ideal candidates for long-acting reversible methods, which offer highly effective options with less user-related burden. Ongoing research will provide a greater understanding of how young women’s dynamic mental health symptoms impact family planning behaviors and outcomes over time. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]